Fuzzy

Waking up in fog so thick that it hurts to breath.  >>>>>Rewind>>>

This boy does not see 10PM all that often let alone midnight or points their after. 

What all that said,, I drove up to the land of Grain Belt , Husker Du, and that guy Formally called and once again called Prince. 

I got up there saturday to Hang out and Help the Chamois Butt'r crew and slap some high five's to the good people that take care of me. 

Got to see some cool new stuff from All City and The new Pedals from LOOK!!

Caught up with some old faces and had a really good lunch.. 

QBP is the Midwest's equivalent of  Disneyland for tight pants fix gear hipsters. 

And I have to say if I lived in the area I would want to work there minus the tight pants. 

Speaking of tight pants I busted out to meet up with the older two of the Bauer Boys for some XC skiing.  Great 

ski conditions ,,freshly groomed and fast. I always think to my self why did this never get put in front of me when I was a youth growing up here??

The young Bauer boy and I after eating a good dinner with his folks headed off to a rock show and

we sure did not know what we were getting into. 

Yea took one for the team with this one. 

Hairball was no Ozorn and we were not at the double down.

After a few hours of many costume changes and some hefty drunk screaming middle aged women,

we split to go to GeneO's and check out his new Neighbors.. Handsome  Cycles...    

                                             Now through all of this evening the clock has been ticking and it is getting late into the night. We missed out on the Large crowds and the kegs still had beer. More tomfoolery and bicycle related conversations were had,, and as the clock struck two AM it was time to get rolling.   Finally crashing out at the Woods by three bells in the morning. 

I still am not sure what I was running on that late or was it early??

With a quick trip over to Hollywood's shop to pick up this years team Bike I was on the road ready to crash out and sleep and try to get ready for a full monday,..

It is a long way to the top if you want to Rock and Roll. ... and I think I go my late night partying out of my system. 

Snowblind

I am between dry roads and ride-able temps and good snow to ski. 

Mid winter burn out,,, time for a break as I get ready to kick into March.. 

The end of March can't get here fast enough.. but I glad that it is not here now. It has been snowing as low as Tuscon and in the burbs and foothills of Scottsdale.

Going to desert is one of the best things that can happen to anyone let alone a person from the Midwest. 

I can go out my door if I want snow and cold,, and I do not want snow and cold I want sunshine and single track .. 

So I bit of a break then some industry stuff up in the 612

for Frost Bike,, and the Cutters Ball. 

Some skiing with the Team and some good bonding time with the THC crew. 

Ready to build up the new rig and get  the season 

underway.. Need Some Thing to DU!!

GO PIP GO

Well first and foremost the Kid (PiP) Signed her letter of INTENT to attend and race for the Ripon Red Hawks. 

Pretty excited for her to get a top notch education and get to travel the USA racing her bike. 

It is hard to believe that she is off to college soon, but it fly's when you are having fun. 

It seems like just yesterday that she was starting the Summit Mountain Challenge's

Mountain Bike Little League. She has come along way. 

A new Ride is coming her way to launch her in to her next level of racing..

Things are happening and I can't wait for the trails to dry out. 

It sounds like we will be packing and shipping bikes down to AZ 

for trip at the end of March, Her coach has her on a 18+

mile week and that gives me a great excuse to do almost nothing but ride a bike on single track while on vacation. 

I got my newly built up King hubs to some Velocity Blunt SL's ,,,, MD at Velocity took care of all of the dirty work and I can't wait to do my part in the dirt. 

Not sure if I will pack the Spot or the new LaMere??

Should have my hands on it this coming weekend as I head up to the Frostbike and Cutters Ball. 

Excited to build up a new race rig,,, and even more excited to get after some more training and riding with the Pip.. 

Can't even begin to tell you how PROUD of the kid that I am .. 

GOOD JOB PIP>>

 

THC

Woke up for work yesterday and started to get ready drinking coffee etc... and something just was not right. Climbed back into bed and slept from 530 to1100.. Crushed I was not sure what hit me... Found my self on the couch of the rest of the day watching bad TV,, even Watched the Premium  Rush movie. It had bikes in it so I liked that but the plot and the acting was not the greatest. 

The spandex messenger on the road bike was using King R45 hubs so that was cool but again the cheese effect was in full force.

After watching this I found my self flipping around from food show to food show,,, which is not the best when you are hungry from not eating all day.. Then the door bell rang and I pulled my self up off my spot and found a goodie box at the door. 

Sweet made in the USA parts for a new Race bike that is coming together. 

Thomson has been taking care of me for years so much so that even the other family members get help when needed.. 

I was able to pull my self together this morning and get my self to work. 

I have been eating like a horse trying to make up for the loss of food intake yesterday. 

And even had the spunk after work to go around the bluff....

Rode well and climbed good but did decide that I have a lot of work to do when it comes to Red lining. Bring on some warm or warmish temps .....all I need is 25-35 degrees and some dryish road and I am ready to get after it.. January was dry and miles and work got done.

I am ready for more and new things are happening with the Hollywood Cycles Team... It will be a new year with new goal and the THC crew will be getting after it.. That is Team Hair Cut... 

Fast Loud and Parting On!!

Just don't get stuck behind the Train..

Moistness

Still dealing with this sore shoulder it is getting better and I have been able to back off the amount of ibuprofen which is gooder. Sleep is hit or miss because I want my arm under my pillow and I normally wake up with  all kinked up.  I find that when riding on two wheels and it being  a

day like today with a glaze across the pave that I am steering with my whole hinder making sure that I don't crash and add to my pain. 

This morning the temps were in the mid 30's and on the way home the temps dropped and wind picked up to 35+mph and I found my self tripoding more than I wanted but did not crash. 

Weather weather weather seems to be the only thing that I have been able to rant about 

as of late. And for last week the skiing was as close to perfect that we have seen in this neck of the woods.

Been making the short drive up north to a local golf course that does a great job of grooming and due to the location it does not get all beat up with people walking on in or dogs crapping on it.. And because it is laid out on the fairways not much of anything to worry about poking up and beating up your skis. 

I was able to get a good hard slide and glide on saturday

before getting the 

tax crap all done.. And this statement has been made once or twice now already that next year we will not overpay to have some wrinkly purple haired smoke stack prepare our return. 

Sundays weather,,,promised to suck with a big storm rolling out of the southwest and bring lots of moisture our way.. Looking at the radar the colors coming to this slice of paradise was all green ,,,,all rain and not just light rain spring style bring the flowers rain. After one too many cups of coffee I geared up and hit the trails,,

Light sprinkles to start and I said that I would not stop until I got soaked through.. 17k's of skiing later and some fat rain drops I could not tell if I was sweating or drenched from liquid precip. 

Regardless my OCD got the best of me and I headed out for a quick road ride on the the SSCX 

in what I thought was going to be a dry spell,, 

Not so much soaked once again.. but spinning circles was good..  Just trashing the shit out of my rig.. I am going to wish on my luck starts that a new one shows up someday.. 

Speaking of someday if you are wanting to ski and have the time to drive to the great White North

head up to Maplelag and see what the Richards are up to.. Lots and lots of snow and the skiing up there is top notch and the food is unreal,,, Makes me want to get up there and Play!!

Crunch

It has been four days now since I crashed and hurt my wing. Need to keep reminding

my self to watch out for stuff and not to get crazy or the sharp pain 

will work its way up to my brain and make me swear. 

Self inflicted pain due to getting rad is something that I have had to deal with for 

years. And one of the main reasons that I don't find my self going to the 

skate parks and Trashing. Once I start having fun and landing a few tricks I think 

yea,,,I should try that and then I end up with the old man ouch syndrome.

I have found for what ever reason that skate skiing is not causing me too much if any pain and I like to think that it may help with the PT process,, that is all self prescribed,, don't want to go and get an MRI as long is it feels like it kind of works.

I have been beating my shoulders up for the better part of 18 years and mostly all due to 

Skinny Skis=fast,,, not Radder

the kind of skiing that you ride a chair lift.

Back when Pip was just six or seven months old I broke my right had and the doc would not cast around my pole grip. Needless to say it starting snowing one day and did not stop. 

So with one pole and a twenty-one year old brain I skied and skied and as the snow got deeper I just used my cast and arm as a Rutter.. Probably no the best idea ,,so that was the right side. 

The left for the most part was pretty unscathed until living in Flagtown and skiing up at the Snowbowl. I had got my hands on my first set up of Tele gear and was taking to it fast. 

Here again this was another one of those years that it snowed and snowed and even snowed some more,,,,I had no idea that it could get so deep in Arizona. Well one day towards the end of my skiing

close to the time I needed to Hitch Hike to work,, cutting back into the woods to get the last stash of Powder over the tips I go and pile drive my left shoulder.  I knew right away that this was going to hurt and wouldn't you know it did. Made it tough to stick my thumb out as I headed down the hill and made it even tougher to get the food processor off the top shelf at work.   

So I am hoping that for now this is just a bit of a sprain,, will be as nice to it as I can

and will continue to work to the goal of the spring which is riding a bike A Lot.. 

Just need to shake out the old man getting radites.

Mudder

I did not get to watch the stream live we were off skiing at the mound,, I was watching twitter and living in my mentals,, but one of the trends I was seeing on the FB and on Twitter was that the Boss was in full effect with Hollywood Sign Photo bombing as much as he could. 

Jay and Kwood loaded up the Scamp and headed off to the World CX and represented in style. 

Watching a rebroadcast Later on saturday I laughed every time I saw this...

Cross is done for now...all the hardcore cx racers are all ready preparing for next fall and soon will start the constant postings of is it cross season yet or we need to have cross all year round...

Not this guy,, I am gearing up for the spring classics .. Team training Camp ,,, our trip to AZ and 

lots and lots of single track.. 

I took both the kids to the Bruce Mound and skied,,

under blue bird skies.

For the Girl it was her first time on Downhill gear since moving to the mid west.. And with the new snow fall Powder was all around...

It was not super deep snow but I was able to find untracked snow for the better part of the day. 

It was a lot of fun,,. The boy spent most of his day in the park working on hitting the gap jumps.

I was doing my best to show off to the kids and was flying high and landing well ... That is unitll

the last jump of the day over shot the landing a bit and hit some ice,,, when my right arm came down I jacked my shoulder... I knew it as soon as it happened.  No doctor visit or sling,,,just lots of ibuprofen,, it is loosing up a bit but damn sore,, 

In my twenty plus years of skiing I have more than once hurt my self on the last run,, the old should have stopped while the getting was good. 

All in all a good day of playing,, the knee dropping is playing a good role in the off season 

training.. Anything is better than riding bikes indoors..